Wendover Active Resistance camp, part of the ongoing direct action campaign against white elephant and eco-atrocity HS2, was surrounded by around a hundred bailiffs, HS2 security and specialist eviction teams in the early hours of Sunday morning (10th October). The defenders are well dug in but would really appreciate ground support outside the perimeter. The eviction is expected to take at least a fortnight.
The site on the A413 ( just outside the village postcode HP22 6PN) was first squatted two years ago. In that time activists have constructed a network of tunnels, treehouses and lock ons. Local opinion is firmly against the HS2, which smashes through this scenic part of the true blue Chilterns, ploughing through local beauty spots and wrecking aquifers.
Freedom spoke to Mark, one activist on the ground “It took them two days to evict ‘the Cage’ a tiny pallet fortress,so we’re expecting it to take a long while to get folk out of ‘The Temple’ which at 15m is, we think, the tallest protest structure built in the U.K and is situated over a tunnel network with an unknown number of people in it” . Unwilling direct action celebrity Swampy Dan, fresh from his acquittal for tunneling under the Euston HS2 site, is also there.
The site on the A413 ( just outside the village postcode HP22 6PN) was first squatted two years ago. In that time activists have constructed a network of tunnels, treehouses and lock ons. Local opinion is firmly against the HS2, which smashes through this scenic part of the true blue Chilterns, ploughing through local beauty spots and wrecking aquifers.
The camp was constructed on land only partially owned by HS2 and it’s not clear that the eviction order is legally valid. Challenges are ongoing. One activist said, “The court informed us that amendments could happen on Monday. HS2, Thames Valley Police and the National Eviction Team (NET) were all informed that their Court Order was currently invalid and that they would have to wait for a valid one. This has been ignored. Lawyers have been informed”.
